During the State Opening of Parliament on Wednesday 17 July, the
King set out the government's priorities for the coming months.
This included commitments relating to education, including
children's social care, schools, and further education.
Together, these important changes will help to break down
barriers to opportunity, and drive high and rising standards in
schools, to create better life chances for everyone.
Here, we explain what the King's Speech means for young people,
parents and the education sector.
You can read more about the King's Speech and how it works on
Gov.uk.
What was announced for education?
A Children's Wellbeing Bill and a Skills England Bill were
announced in the King's Speech.
A bill is a proposed law which is introduced into Parliament.
After being debated, passed through Parliament, and receiving
Royal Assent, it becomes law.
What is included in the Children's Wellbeing
Bill?
The Children's Wellbeing Bill will put children and their
wellbeing at the centre of the education and children's social
care systems, and make changes to ensure children are safe,
healthy, happy and treated fairly.
There are a range of changes which the government will aim to
pass through the bill, to remove barriers to opportunity and make
sure that the school system is fair for every child, no matter
their background.
These include, but are not limited to:
- Making sure there are free breakfast clubs
in every primary school.
- Limiting the number of branded uniform items that a school
can require, to bring down costs for parents.
- Creating Children Not in School registers to support
home-educating parents and to help local authorities keep track
of pupils, so that children don't slip under the radar.
- Giving Ofsted more powers to investigate unregistered schools
and tackle patterns of poor care in children's homes to keep
children safe.
What is included in the Skills England Bill?
Skills England will bring together businesses, providers, unions
and other bodies to try to boost skills training and tackle
skills shortages to support sustained economic growth.
A Skills England Bill will work towards this, simplifying the
skills system by transferring responsibilities from the Institute
for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IfATE) to a new
Skills England organisation, to make skills sector more
efficient.
When will the education bills be introduced?
Before becoming law, the education bills will be debated by
Parliament.
Both bills are planned to be introduced in the first session of
Parliament.
You can read more about how a bill becomes law on Gov.uk.
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